Vehicle.



E. W. CLARK.

VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2|. 1913.

1,303,854., Patented May 20, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E. W. CLARK.

VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21. l9l3. 1 33,85, Patented May 20, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

%tnesse. jii/gflfof' 65%, @MWM 7( JJM I 5 WMfl/M tan-m STATES PATENTcarton.

EARL w. CLARK, or snAltoN, PENNSYLVANIA.

VEHICLE.

Lseassa.

To ail whom it may concern:

provements in vehicles invented by E. L.

\ Clark and myself, the said application bearing Serial No. 734,079,filed November 29th,

1912, there are described certain-features of vehicle construction,including a separable chassis and body, and means by which the body canbe elevated from the chassis and supported independently ofthe chassisat any point or locality where-loading or unloading might be desired. Inconsequence while the body is being loaded or unloaded, the chassis canbe used for other purposes or in connection with other bodies in such amanner that the cost of transporting merchandise is greatly decreased,and the efliciency of the truck service is rendered much higher than isthe case if thechassis is idle, while the body is 'being loaded orunloaded. In the preferred embodiment of the invention described in saidapplication there are utilized a body elevating and supporting meanscomprising a plurality of legs which are adapted to be connected to thebody so as to elevate an support the same independently of the chassis,and when not in use are detached from the body.

The present invention in one of its aspects relates to a somewhatsimilar body supporting and elevating means, and in this respect, the.invention has for itsobject to provide means by'which the supportingand elevating legs are attached to the body in a manner such that whennot in use, they can be folded up alongside the base of the body in acompact manner, and when it is desirable to use the same, they-can beswung downwardly and moved outwardly to operative position, and firmlypositioned with respect to the body, so that the latter can beSpecification of Letters Patent.

elevated and supported very firmly and securely, independently of thechassis.

Patented May 20, 1919.. Application filed March 21, 1913. Serial No.(55,907. I

In another respect, the present invention relates to certainimprovements in means for detachably connecting the body and chassis,the Ob]6Ct being to provide'mea-ns by which the body can be locked to orreleased from the chassis quickly, easily and efi'ectively.

My invention may be-here 'briefly'summarized as consisting in certainnovel details of construction and combinations and arrangements. ofparts which will be described'in the specification and set forth in theappended claims. In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side eleva- Fig. 2 is atransverse sectional view of the same; Fig. 3 is a partial horizontalsectional view substantially along the 'line- 33 of tion. of a truckembodying my improve- Fig. 2, looking downward; Fig. 4 is a sideelevation of a portion of the body and chas- SIS, showing the manner oiretaining the supportlng and elevating legs in inoperative position, orwhen folded intothe body sill;,

Fig. "5 is a horizontal sectional iew substantlally along the line 55 ofF ig. 4:, looking downwardly; Fig. 6 is a detail transverse sectionalView substantially along the line 66 of Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is a detailhorizontal view substantially along the line 77 of Fig. 2, lookingdownwardly; Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view through the chassisand' lower part, of the body, showing a modification of the locking andunlocking means by which the body can be readily attached to or detachedfrom the chassis; and

Fig. 9-is a similar view showing a further modification of the samefeature.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 represents the body, and 11thechassis, both of which may have 'any suitable construction. Theprincipal, requisite, however, of the body and chassis is that the bodyshould .be detachably connected to the chassis in such a manner that itcan be detached and elevated, or lowered onto the chassis and se-- curedthereto for the purpose of transportat1on. It may be here stated,however, that my invention has particular utility in connection witlffolding bodies, for with bodies of that type, I am enabled with a singlechassis to distribute a group of empty bodies to various points whereloading is desired, as will be hereinafter described. The manner ofdetachably connecting anddisconnecting the body and chassls will be. described later.

To elevate and support the body independently of the chassis and in amanner such that the chassis can be run from beneath the body when thussupported, or backed underneath the body, so that the can-be againlowered onto the chassis,

.I utilize a plurality of elevating and supporting legs or jacks 12, twoof which are preferably employed at each side of the body. In accordancewith the present invention, these legs are attached to the body 'bothwhen in use, and when not in use, and

are in the nature of swinging legs which can be swung from operativeposition and folded out of the way alongside the lower part of the body.Each of these legs includes in this instance a screw threaded standardor oppositely shank 12 which is provided at its lowerend with a suitablebase 12, and-a relatively movable part 12, adapted to .travel up anddown along the threaded shank 12. In this instance, the part 12 carriesanut '12 which is provided on the exterior with ratchet teeth adapted tobe engaged by a dou'bleacting ratchet dog 12 carried by an operatinghandle 12. The part 12 of each leg 12 is.

provided with a laterally extending a -rm 12 which has a pivotalconnection with the-- body. It will be observed that the body, as hereshown is provided along the bottom with side sills 10, which are in theform of channels arranged with their flanges extending outwardly. Eachof the laterally projecting arms l2 extends through an opening in theweb .of the channel and is seated in a socket, including an outer part13 secured to the channel between the outwardly extending legs orflanges, and aninner part 13 which is secured to the frame in anysuitable manner, the inner and outer partshaving suitably alinedopenings through wh ch. the arm 12 freely extends,

and in which the arm may turn to swing the leg to or from verticalposition. When the legs are in use, or in the position for elevating andsupporting the body, they are of course vertical, and the'standards orvertical portions are located, as shown in Fig. 2, laterally beyond thebody. When the legs are not in use, they are swung 90 from verticalposition about the axes of the arms 12 and are thence moveddnwardlyiintothechannels and are retained in that position by suitables'pringclipsxle; see particularly Figs. 4 ands. Whenthe legs are so folded,

any '12 and the socket which receives it.

disposed sockets or notches 13 in the inner end of the inner socketmember 13*, when the leg is swung to vertical position, and thence movedoutwardly to elevating and supporting position. The lugs enter intothese notches 13 and assist in holding the legs rigidly in uprightposition and prevent To prevent -endwise movement, .while the legs arein elevating'and supporting positionf'I prefer to 'use a tapered key 15which is adapted toibe inserted in a suitably provided opening in thearm 12 and when so inserted, bears agains the base of a notch or slot inthe outer socket member 13. As before stated, the legs are ordinarilynot removed from the. body, but with the construction which I preferthey may be removed when desired. To permit the removal or insertion ofthe leg with respect to the socketmembers 13 and 13, these two membersare provided with a pair ofj slots 13-, (see particularly Fig. 5), whichslots k extend throughout the length of the socket and are oppositelydisposed in a plane at right angles to the plane of the oppositelydisposed notches 13. When thelegs are swung to a horizontal position,the lugs 1'2 come into alinement with the notches, and accordrelativeturning action between the arm ingly the legs can be removed bywithdraw- I ing the arms from the sockets.

Another feature of my invention resides in the means for attaching anddetaching the bodv and chassis, as before stated. In Fig. 2, the body isadapted to be detachably connected to the chassis by means of pairs orsets of dogs or levers; 17 which are pivotally connected to theeh-assis, and have at their. upper ends ,-heok-shaped portions adaptedto be swung outwardly over pro-- jecting portions 18, of anglemembersr18 secured to the frame of the body. In the construction shownin Fig. 2, each pair of dogs or legs 17 is adapted to be shiftedsimultaneously by a screw rod 19 having right and left hand threadedportions which engage in trunnion nuts 20 carried by the lower ends ofthe dogs or levers. By turning the threaded rod 19; by a hand wheel 19,or I equivalent means, the two dogs are simultaneously moved towardor-away from the cooperating projections 18 on'the body. Between thedogs and below the pivotal connections of the latter with the chassis isa meas es stop meni'ber 21 against which one or the backed beneath thebody; and permits a as other of the dogs may abut to stop the swingingmovement thereof by the screw rod in case the chassis is not centrallylocated beneath the body If the chassis is not centrally located beneaththe body, when the one dog engages the stop, further move-' ment of thescrew i'od will cause the other dog to shift the chassis laterally in.one direction, or to shift the body in the other direction until theyare brought into aline-.

ment.

In the modification shown in Fig. 8, the body and chassis are adapted tobe locked together by pairs of locking'members 22 in the .form of nuts,two of which are adapted to travel along a screw rod 23, having rightand left hand threaded portions engaged by the nuts. This rod is carriedby the body and when turned by a crankor other suitable means causes thenuts to move toward or from the side channels or sills of the chassis.The lower portions of the nuts are providedwith projecting parts 22which are adapted to be moved under and hence into locking engagementwith the upper flanges of channels, the said flanges extending inwardly.Usually two pairs of the traveling nuts will sufice to hold the body andchassis together. With this construction, if the chassis is notcentrally beneath the body, the engagement ofv one nut with the channelwill move either the body or the chassis to a position such that thechassis is centrally beneath the same. k

In Fig. 9 there is shown a construction in some respects similar to thatshown in Fig. 2. In this case, the side sills of the chassis areprovided with separate and independent.

locking dogs or levers 24, which are pivotally connected to the outersides of the channels, and are adapted to be moved inwardly, so that thehook portions at the outer ends of the dogs will engage over lookingpins 25 on the frame ofthe body. Each of these dogs'24 is adapted to beactuated separately from the other by means of a short screw.

rod 26, which may be turned by a crank or equivalent means, each-ofthese rods engaging a suitablenut 27 carried by the dog and a nut 28,secured to the chassis.

As was before stated, when the legs or jacks are in position to elevateand support the body, the'upright or vertical portions of the legs arelocated laterally beyond the sides of the body. This arrangement hasnumerous advantages over an arrangement wherein the legs are beneath orin line with the of the body. Among these advantages may be mentionedincreased stability,

- while the body is supported by the said legs;

increased clearance between the legs and the wheels of the chassis, thisbeing of particular utility when the chassis is being number of foldingbodies to be placed on the chassis and distributed at the differentpoints at which loading isdesired.

To explain the third mentionedadvantage, it might be said that a numberof folded bodies can be placed one upon the other on the chassis, andcan be distributed one at a time by supporting the uppermost body on itselevating and supporting legs, and removing the chassis, and the bodiesbeneath from the uppermost body, this being rendered permissible only byreason of the fact that the standards or legs, when in operatingposition, are located laterally beyond the sides of the body.

By employing the adjustable elevating and supporting legs for supportingthe body independently of'the chassis, the body can be placed at anydesired point, practically regardless of an inequalities of the groundbeneath the b0 y. A still further advantage in having the elevating'means in the 4 1. In combination, a vehicle comprising a chassis, abody adapted to be supported by the chassis, and detachable therefrom,means 7 for supporting the body independently of the chassis comprisinga plurality of adjustable supporting legs, said body having sockets andthe said legs having laterally proje'cting arms extending into thesockets, said sockets permitting an end-wise movement of said arms, anda turning movementby which the legs may be swung from a lower verticalposition to a position alongside of the body.

2. In combination, a vehicle comprising a chassis, a body adapted to besupported by the chassis, and detachable therefrom, means 'f0l'supporting. the body independently of the chassis, comprising aplurality of supporting legs having pivotal connections with the-body,said body having sockets and the said legs having arms which arereceived in the sockets and are adapted to move endwise in the socketsand to be turned therein, the.

its

the chassis, comprising a plurality of supportin legs having pivotalconnections with the b0 y, said body having sockets, and the in thesockets andto be turned therein, each of thesaid arms having at ltsinner end a pair of lugs, and the sockets having slots extendinglengthwise thereof, with which said lugs register when said legs areturned to one positioniagnd thesaid sockets ha 'at their 0 inner endsnotches with which sa'i lugs register when the legs are in anotherposition. In, testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my sigmiture in thepresence of two witnesses. EARL W. CLARK.

Witnesses; WILLIAM A. MAITLAND,

Amen ANDERSON.

